The Intergalactic War

By Chief Ratchet

(A.N: Hi, it's me again! Aren't you all glad to see me once again? Well, after all that, sorry for the long wait again, assignments have plagued me again! That, and as I said last time, I was playing Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. And now, I present, with great pride mind you, Part Three of the Liberation of Dac! Now this is the final chapter for the liberation. Also, after this, I will resume work on a new fanfic, and that is after another chapter updated for my A Day in the Life of…, piece. Well, that's enough rambling from me; see you at the bottom of this chapter!)

Reviews:

Star wars 2136: Well, they will finish liberating it this chapter. Advanced Warfighter is great! Well, at least on the 360. Kind of hard to get used to, since it is very different from my other standard games. Keep reviewing please!

brian: Heh heh heh, I'm evil, aren't I? Well, the cliffhanger's over for you now! You keep reviewing to!

The one called Sugar: I'll try to get this done as soon as possible. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Comrade Baron: Thanks for the helpful tips. Your advice will hopeful, be integrated into the following chapters, though this may not be possible at all times. And also, I change viewpoints a lot in order to give readers a bigger view of the action, instead of being confined to one point of view at all times. Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it.

brian (Again!): No problems, no hard feelings (Secretly arms a nuke), right?

Sir Loin the First: Names may be personal. But, they can be the basis of trust as well. If the Chief tells them, then both sides are confident in their trust of each other. But thanks for the review!

Chapter 6: The Liberation of Dac, Pt.3

As Linda steadied her aim, her thoughts drifted to the battle scene in front of her. It was strange to see a Brute fighting another army. She shook off the thoughts, and then fired. The loud crack of the rifles was followed by the thud of the Brute falling to the ground, a hole on the side of its head. All the Brutes recognized the sound as a human weapon, and they turned to the direction of where the shot came from.

Upon facing the direction, they saw a golden visor, which they identified as belonging to a demon. Snarling, they turned their weapons in the demon's direction, and started shooting. Linda cursed when she and 'Novamee were forced to duck their heads behind the wall to avoid being hit. "That went well," commented 'Novamee lightly. Linda didn't bother replying. Instead, she raised the sniper rifle above the wall, and used the smart-linked scope to fire at the Brutes. Crack, crack, crack. After the third bullet was flying down towards a Brute, the magazine automatically fell out, as part of a modification made by Linda to her beloved sniper. 'Novamee peeked out to see that only two Brutes were dead, after three shots.

"Well, you got two out of three, Linda. That's an A, but someone with your reputation should have gotten three out of three, so that will bring you down to a B." remarked 'Novamee.

"Shut up." Said Linda in return. She reached into one of the armour's many ammunition pockets, and fished around until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out a single bullet.

'Novamee looked at her when she pulled out a single bullet. His lower mandibles opened slightly in an expression of surprise, as well as in disbelief. "One bullet?" he asked. "What in the name of the gods is one bullet going to do?" he asked. Had her helmet not been on, Linda would have stuck her tongue out at him.

"This one bullet, for your information Mr. Shock and Disbelief, is a 15.58x102mm HE round. It packs enough explosive to blow a Ghost to Timbuktu in one shot. Timbuktu is a city on Earth, by the way," she said after his confused look. Linda loaded the bullet into the receiver, and the display on her HUD showed that it was loaded. The part of the HUD that normally showed how many bullets were left in a magazine showed one bullet, but highlighted in red instead of the usual blue. Linda raised the rifle above her head again, and pulled the trigger. The round shot out with a much louder crack than normal, and when it hit one of the Brute's, it almost tore the Brute in half.

Linda smiled, and next to her, 'Novamee lobbed three plasma grenades into the remaining Brutes. He heard howling, and then, seconds later, three consecutive and loud detonations. Then, he heard some unfamiliar weapons shooting, and guessed it was the soldiers who he and Linda had saved. He peeped over the top of the wall they were ducking behind, and saw no more Brutes there that were still alive. He nodded to Linda, and they continued their assigned job, which was to provide sniper cover when needed, and generally shoot anything still standing after the main forces have pushed through.

Down on the street below, Corr pulled another wounded Commando into the alley. He had no idea what was happening, instead, right now, his mind was fixed on getting the wounded in his squad to cover inside the alley. What he did know was that something, he didn't know what, had caught the Brute's attention, and someone had won, though he had no idea who.

After dragging the Commando into the alley, he kneeled next to the Commando, and pulled out his medical kit. He applied bacta to the more serious wounds, and bandaged up the rest. After that, he observed the rest of the squad carry in the wounded. They had paid dearly for the battle. Out of about thirty men, thirteen were dead, and seven were wounded, leaving only ten men capable of fighting effectively. As he thought about how they were going to liberate the rest of the city with what was remaining of the assault force, curiosity got the better of him, causing him to peek out of the alley, and to scan the rooftops to see if he could see their mysterious saviours.

It was hard to see anything because of the position of the sun, which was facing him, making finding the person a good deal harder. In order to see anything, he had to squint, which started hurting his eyes after a while. Finally, he glimpsed something that was reflecting the sunlight, kind of like a polished blaster. To help him identify the glimmer, he brought his rifle up, and peered through the scope. The first thing he saw was the upper torso part of a green battle suit. Then, the helmet turned to face him, and he found himself staring at an opaque, reflective golden visor. The sight of the visor somehow scared him more than a Brute did. The visor lingered on him for a moment, and then swivelled to look back at what it was doing, after he had lowered his blaster rifle. He made a mental note to remember this location, as the person up there could either be hostile, or it could be friendly. Both way, he had no way to find out, and he didn't want to find out anyway.

Linda looked was looking through the scope to find more targets to shoot when she felt like something was staring at her. She tore her eyes away from the scope, and looked to her right. There, poking his head out was one of the soldiers, who was looking through the scope mounted on his weapon at her. She regarded him for a moment, and then ignored him when he lowered his weapon. The team was moving towards the AA Guns in hopes of at least disrupting the overlapping blanket of plasma AA before the dropships arrive.

They had about one and a half hours before the dropships would be launching. The best way for them to inflict maximum damage without blowing every single gun to hell would be to find the guns that were essential to the overlapping AA fire. The team had decided to split up, with one Spartan on each group. The teams were designated Alpha, Bravo and Linda and 'Novamee would form Charlie. She and 'Novamee would provide sniper cover when needed, and right now, Alpha needed some help. She turned her sniper rifle towards the direction, as did 'Novamee, and took aim.

The Master Chief fired his Battle Rifle at the Brutes that were dug in on the street ahead. It was no use. The three round bursts were great for shooting at targets further away, but they lacked the rate of fire needed to inflict more damage in a shorter time at close range. They also weren't very good at suppressing targets.

With a sigh of frustration, the Chief changed the fire mode to automatic. It was a new development for the rifles, so they could now be more effective at close ranges, or suppressing the enemy. He sprayed the rifle down at the Brutes, hoping that they would break soon. It did little except to attract a lot of plasma fire down his direction, which was in an alleyway. Moving down the alley was little use, due to a Plasma Cannon down the main alley street.

So here they were, pinned down at an alley, with time running out. Seeing no other alternative, he radioed Charlie Team. "Charlie, this is Alpha. We need a lot of sniper fire down here, and I mean now!" The radio remained silent for a while, and finally crackled into life.

"Sorry about the wait, Alpha. Had a little trouble with some Brutes. Wait one, Alpha," then there was the sound of a sniper rifle going off, and a very faint snarling. "Sorry about that. Now, what can I give you? We have normal sniper bullets, 'Brute Killers', Plasma Grenades, Frag Grenades and even a hail of 30 cal. bullets."

The Chief almost yelled into the link "Just a hail of sniper rounds to the Brute position in front of us. Just suppress them, we will flank them!" The com link crackled to life again. Linda's voice came out, though she spoke in a mock confused tone.

"A hail of sniper rounds without accuracy? Come on Chief, that's like eating toast without butter. Not to bad, but incomplete with out the other. If you want, 'Novamee can set up the machine gun and provide suppression fire, if needed, okay?"

"Fine, fine, just hurry up!" the Chief yelled into the link. Soon, a hail of 30 cal. bullets came screaming in from where ever Linda and 'Novamee had chosen as their hiding spot. It was followed by a series of cracks as tracer rounds flew in to join the fun. This distraction forced the gunner of the Plasma Cannon to shift his fire to where the shots had originated from. As soon as the Chief saw this, he pointed at one of the Grunts holding a Fuel Rod Cannon. "You! Take out that cannon!"

The Grunt let out a squeak for a reply, and with courage not normally seen in Grunts, he jumped out of the alley, and fired a barrage of explosive plasma that slowly, almost lazily, arced their way across the alley street and impacted all around the Plasma Cannon. Due to the splash damage, the cannon exploded into a fireball of flying debris that shredded the Brute manning it.

The Chief patted the Grunt on the head, and ran out onto the alley street. "Come on!" he shouted, and all the others who were pinned down ran out and charged forward into the alley, looking through the numerous off branches for any Brutes in them. Finally, they found what they were looking for; an alleyway that had a clear shot into the Brute barricade. Most normal Elites would have let out a battle cry, but the Spec-Ops were well trained. They stayed silent, waiting for the opportune moment. Finally, the moment came. The Brute Captain, along with several others, all met at the same place. Looking around, the Chief could see that all the captains were there. The Chief nodded.

On the Chief's nod, the Elite's threw Plasma Grenades, and the Grunt with the Fuel Rods fired them into the barricade. It exploded into a ferocious fireball that consumed anything within a three metre radius. Brutes, Jackals, ammunition and supplies were all devoured without a hint of mercy. Afterwards, all that was left was a large, smoking crater in the ground. A few Grunts shook their heads to clear their ears. "What was that?" asked one of the Elites. The Chief stepped over to the edge of the crater. Looking around, he answered "I believe that the grenades detonated the other grenades and ammunition near the barricade, causing what you just saw." The other Elites nodded in understanding.

"Let's keep moving, warriors. We need to cause a lot more destruction to the anti-air grid if the main force is to survive the planetary landing," 'Zamamee announced. A murmur of agreement followed. The team then continued to move down the street, careful of any ambushes that the Brutes may have set up.

After making sure that the wounded Commando was secure, Corr pulled up a casualty list. It was bad. Every squad had lost at least four members, with a few wounded. With most of the medics trained to handle laser blasts, some weren't sure how to handle the plasma bolts. Many suffered as a result. With a sigh, he activated his com-link. "Squad leaders, merge your remaining men with the squad after you alphabetically. So squad B, meet me at my location. Over and out." With that, he cut the link. Within a matter of minutes, the remaining Commandoes and Seatroopers had linked up with his squad, and formed a full squad. After looking everyone over, he shouted "Alright men, let's move out! Watch out for any ambushes!"

About twenty minutes after leaving the alley, the group rounded a corner, and was met with a patrol of five Jackals, of which, two were bearing orange shields, signifying a high rank. The Jackals were caught off-guard with their shields lowered at their waists, and two were shot by several Troopers at the same time. The other's brought their shields up, and formed an impenetrable barrier. The squad dived in two different directions to avoid the twin blasts of overcharged plasma. Once back on their feet, all of them raised their blaster rifles, and poured lasers into the shields.

The Jackals continued to hold out, however, and were still advancing. One of the green shielded Jackals lost his balance, and stumbled slightly. That was all the time Corr needed to pump the Jackal full of lasers. All that was left were the two orange shield Jackals, which continued to advance. Suddenly, one of the Jackals went down in a hail of blaster bolts. The other squawked in confusion, and looked up. He saw a Seatrooper who had climbed up to the roof, and used the elevated position to fire down onto the pair of Jackals head. The surviving Jackal managed to get off two shots, before all the others on the ground blasted him.

The twin plasma blasts hit the Seatrooper, who toppled down. A Commando caught him before he hit the ground. The medic rushed over to him. The medic looked him over, and then tore off the helmet. The trooper had blood leaking from the side of his mouth. "D-di-did we get them, sir?" the wounded trooper managed to gasp out.

"Sure we did. You did great, soldier. You'll be fine," reassured Corr.

The medic found the wound, and applied some bacta to it, and then bandaged it. "All done. Stay away from excessive movement to avoid putting strain on the wound," said the medic.

"Come on. Let's keep moving," said Corr.

At Linda and 'Novamee's location, both of them were firing at the Brutes that they could see. Then, 'Novamee heard the distinctive rumble of a Wraith's engine. It was getting louder, and he assumed it was hostile. They hadn't brought any armour with them, so it had to be Brute controlled. Unexpected, and suddenly, the Wraith smashed through a house, and aimed the mortar directly at them. "Linda, let's get out of here!" he shouted.

But it was too late as the Wraith fired its plasma mortar. The deadly ball collided with their position with a blinding light, and an enormous explosion was the last thing he heard before bringing his head down. All he could do was hope that Linda wasn't near the blast zone. The mortar was aimed for him, so hopefully she would be okay. He poked his head up, and surveyed the damage.

At the Master Chief's location, he and half of Spec-Ops Team 4 were finishing off the last Brute guarding the AA Cannon. According to Cortana's scans, this gun was essential to the overlapping field of AA fire, and its destruction would cause a hole, in which the dropships would slip through. "Alright. Start setting the explosives. We have about, two minutes before the dropships launch," ordered 'Zamamee. The Elites and Grunts moved around the gun, and started to place purple packages, that were the explosives that the Covenant used. The Chief also helped, by placing several C-12 charges across the gun. "All done? Good. Let's go."

With that, the Elites and Grunts started to run from the gun. When they and the Master Chief was a safe distance away, 'Zamamee pushed the detonator. The C-12 charges exploded first, and the heat set off the plasma explosives. The fireball that ensued was seen for kilometres away. At that exact time, another fireball appeared, and they received a message from Bravo team. "Explosives set off, sir. Mission accomplished." Came Fred's voice.

Seconds later, several other AA guns overloaded and the heat melted and fused the barrel together. The explosions had short-circuited the wiring underground, which supplied power. The extra energy was diverted to the other guns, which were all ready operating at peak maximum output, and the guns overloaded. Just in time to, as in the clear sky, multiple black specks started to appear. Looking up, the Chief saw them. "Looks like the Marines have finally landed."

'Novamee scrambled out from where he had sheltered from the plasma mortar. He heard the sound of the Wraith driving away. The pilot had clearly thought that Linda had perished in the explosion. It was no surprise, as there was a large pile of rubble where Linda had once stood. He was about to turn away when some of the rubble shifted. Whipping around, he saw a green armoured hand punch out of the rubble, before stretching, and then falling limp. With new hope, leapt over to the hand, and started to frantically move away the material burying her.

After a few agonising minutes, which seemed like hours, he had shifted enough rubble to expose Linda's limp form, her upper torso sticking out from the rubble. He quickly keyed his com-link. "'Zamamee! We need assistance! Linda has been hit, and is half buried in rubble. I think we need an immediate evacuation of her!"

When no answer came through the link, he repeated the message again. Finally, 'Zamamee's calm voice came over. "'Novamee, stay calm. The main assault force is now planetside. Look up. See those black dots? Those are the dropships now. Radio in for one to pick you, and the Spartan up. We are leaving now. Our job is done. Good work. See you in the ship." The link then cut off.

Seconds after the link was cut, there was an explosion as the Wraith that had fired on them exploded. Apparently, it had found out that they were still alive, and it had come to change that. A Pelican then came in low, and hovered just a few metres before them. 'Novamee waved the Marines that had disembarked over. There were expressions of surprise and disbelief as they saw the Spartan half buried in rubble. A few of them rubbed their eyes.

"Damn! Am I seeing what you're seeing?" One Marine remarked.

"That a Spartan?" Asked another.

"Is he still alive?" The questions just kept on coming.

The Marines kept saying similar phrases as they helped 'Novamee dig Linda out of the rubble. Once she fully dug out, the Marines loaded her into the Pelican. 'Novamee climbed in after her. The pilot then fired the belly thrusters, and the Pelican lifted off. The ramp leading to the passenger bay sealed, and then there was a hiss as the airlock sealed. 'Novamee sat down, and relaxed for the first time, and listened to the rumble as the Pelican left the atmosphere. Looking out, he saw the entire planet. It was mostly blue, with only a few touches of yellow. It would be a waste to glass the planet, he mused. As the Pelican continued towards the titanic Divine Blade, he remembered…

A.N: Well, sorry about the loooong wait, I took a big, big break, heh heh heh. I've just about finished school, so more regular updates are coming now! Next chapter will be dedicated to 'Novamee's past, as some of you might want to know him better. After that, the Fleet of Retribution will meet the New Republic! Well, diplomatically, of course. Stay tuned, and keep the reviews coming! Thank you all the loyal readers so far, this story would be so much slower without your support! Thanks to you all out there!